Dolphins' new offense clicks in opener, despite loss

Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel

The Dolphins' unveiled their new offense Friday night in the preseason opener at Atlanta, and it did what was promised despite a 16-10 loss. The offense spread the field, got the ball out of quarterback Ryan Tannehill's hand quickly, and got the ball in the hands of the playmakers in 1-on-1 situations with defenders.

Tannehill was a perfect 6-for-6 passing, throwing for 62 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions while playing one series, which resulted in a 10-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. He seemed comfortable and in control as he got the offense out of the huddle, up to the line of scrimmage and got the ball snapped quickly, all things coach Joe Philbin and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor want to see.

"It was a great first series," Philbin said, "just the way we want to start the game. We had good balance on the drive."

The opening possession helped absorb the bad news of the day, which was strong safety Reshad Jones being suspended for the first four games of the regular season due to his use of performance enhancing drugs. Jones is the second Dolphins player to be hit with such a penalty. Defensive end Dion Jordan, the No. 3 pick of the 2013 draft, also has to serve a four-game suspension, which will rob the defense of two of its top projected playmakers.

Philbin said he was "disappointed" Jones will be gone but said he has an "excellent defense" and has "a lot of confidence in our secondary."

But back to the offense. It was the biggest curiosity coming into Friday's game. Lazor, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach, was hired with the idea of jump-starting an offense that was 26th in scoring last season at 19.8 points per game, and right now it appears he could accomplish that feat.

"I think we ran some good stuff tonight," Tannehill said. "It wasn't an overly complicated gameplan, we really kept it to the basics and guys were out there confident in what they're doing and we were able to execute."

Tannehill's big gain was a 36-yard completion to wide receiver Rishard Matthews. Tannehill didn't throw deep, but he was efficient and accurate in his brief time on the field.

Almost as importantly, Tannehill wasn't sacked. That's a promising sign considering he was sacked a franchise-record 58 times last season and is now playing behind an offensive line has five new starters.

The offensive line, in fact, also had a fairly good showing in its one series together. Running back Lamar Miller had a modest 11 yards on four carries, but the Dolphins didn't have any negative yards on the drive. No penalties, no tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

The starting offensive line of center Samson Satele, left guard Daryn Colledge, left tackle Branden Albert, right guard Dallas Thomas and right tackle Ja'Wuan James is still being eyed suspiciously. After all, they were only intact for one series. But so far, so good.

In fact, just to make sure the starting offensive linemen got a little extra work, the Dolphins kept Satele, Thomas and James in the game into the second quarter.

The offense kept a couple of elements stashed away. Tannehill never rolled out or used the read option, things he's showed during training camp. It's unclear how much either will be part of the offense in the regular season.

Defensively, the outlook wasn't as bright. There were missed tackles by the starters — most notably linebackers Koa Misi, Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler all missed at least one tackle — and Atlanta drove 77 yards in 15 plays to even the score at 7 near the end of the first quarter.

Starting defensive end Olivier Vernon (11.5 sacks last season) didn't play, likely due to a back injury that affected him during practice during this week.